How long have you been a Vancouverite?
I’ve been living in Vancouver since 2004, so 11 years now. I left my hometown of Buenos Aires for Israel with only a suitcase when I was 19 years old. It’s been a long time since I left my country, but I am now proud (and lucky) to feel at home in three different countries.

Your childhood was rooted in a connection with nature, creativity and living off of the land in a close family environment that deviated from the typical trappings of modern life. Can you tell us a bit about your upbringing and how it has helped to shape you as a person?
I grew up off-grid on Lasqueti Island, a 20km long island a few hours North of Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia. By choice, the island does not have hydro power from the mainland. Any electricity is generated on an individual basis from solar, wind or micro-hydro. We had no road to our house, and did not even have a phone for over 15 years.

Although this may seem like roughing it, it is a fulfilling and rewarding lifestyle. Most of our food was provided by our surroundings: our large garden and orchard produced organic fruits and vegetables, our chickens laid eggs daily, and the ocean at our doorstep provided us with fresh seafood. Although our household income denoted that we were living “under the poverty line”, we had everything we needed, and lived in a peaceful, natural paradise.

Growing up off-grid taught me that true happiness in life comes from family, community, and nature. I would choose a potluck feast of homegrown food with my neighbours over a dinner at any 5 star restaurant in the world.

We’re a software division of a 174-year-old global business information company that is based right in the heart of downtown. As a team, we work on some really big strategic projects for the company, using the very latest in web and cloud computing technologies.

My role is to help tell the Dun & Bradstreet product story, as well as provide thought leadership and education for other businesses looking to adopt cloud-based technology. Right now, we’re building the next generation of Dun & Bradstreet’s flagship product, called DNBi, which helps credit managers to make decisions on which companies to do business with, how much credit to extend to those companies, and how much risk they are taking on as a result. We’re working with the world’s largest business database to make this project happen – some 300 million business records gathered from across 200 countries. It’s huge!

How hard is it to become a YouTube Star? And can anyone really do it? A UK study recently found that 40% of 16-24 year olds would rather be a YouTube star over becoming a doctor, lawyer or pop music star.

In this doc, the guys behind SHIFT interview Vancouver’s biggest YouTube celebrities (Austin Pamaj, Convos With My 2YR Old, and IFHT) and start a channel from scratch to find out how hard it is to go viral… and succeed with 2M channel views to date.

Occupation:
I am currently enrolled in the Masters of Applied Legal Studies program at SFU and am studying to become a Notary Public in British Columbia. I also work part-time as a conveyancer at a Notary Public’s office in Vancouver.

Even with your busy work and grad school schedule, you are very active in the volunteer community in Vancouver. Can you tell us a bit about the organizations that you collaborate with and what you feel are the biggest benefits of volunteer work?
I am currently the President of the Vancouver Diamond Lions Club (VDLC), and was a committee member for the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation 20th Anniversary for Children We Care Gala this year.

What is your occupation?
COO for PlentyOfFish. I oversee several functions of the business including HR, Finance, Legal, PR/Communications, and Administrative and Support.

The dating world has evolved with the modern times, with many people turning to the internet to broaden their social circles and increase their odds of meeting interesting people. Can you contrast and compare how PlentyOfFish operates in relation to many of the other dating websites?PlentyOfFish is uniquely placed in the online dating landscape for three reasons: it’s a free service, it offers unlimited selection of potential matches, and it works.

PlentyOfFish started as a free site and 12 years later, users can still use the service, now also available on iPhone, iPad, Android and tablet, for free. As PlentyOfFish grew and matured, we realized that we aimed to offer our users an optional premium membership, for those who want an enhanced user experience. Our upgraded membership allows users to see if someone read or deleted their message, see a user’s extended profile, upload more images and several other value-adds.

Occupation:
I’m the owner and founder of Form Body Lab, a boutique pilates studio focused on an integrated, client-focused approach to wellness. Not just yoga and pilates, our studio was the first to include in-house physiotherapists and registered massage therapists – a collaboration of instructors and practitioners to provide a center for high quality rehabilitation and physical maintenance.

Inside Vancouver is a multi-author blog, written by Vancouverites about Vancouver. Our goal is to give an insider’s view of Vancouver, to provide information, stories and opinions from the locals’ perspective about this great city.